


Changes

by Lemonbookworm



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura & Lance (Voltron) are Siblings, Altean Lance (Voltron), Altean Prince Lance (Voltron), Gen, Lance (Voltron)-centric, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Keith (Voltron), Prince Lance (Voltron), Reality Bending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-09 03:24:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17399114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lemonbookworm/pseuds/Lemonbookworm
Summary: The paladins of Voltron are just starting to warm up to each other, but then, an accident happens at one of the planets they visited, and Lance completely changes.Allura is trying her best to help Lance out of this sticky situation, Coran is happier than ever, Shiro wants the team to stay like they were before so that they can form Voltron and defend the universe, Pidge is figuring out how this all happened, Hunk just wants his friend back, while Keith is facing these weird feelings he now has to admit he has. And Lance? Well, Lance is just confused.





	1. How everything changed because of one small explosion

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! I'm really thankful that you decided to start reading this story, and I hope it meets your expectations.  
> Okay, so this is my very first fanfic. I wasn't sure if I should really write this, but the idea has been swarming my mind for weeks now and I just love the concept of Altean Lance.   
> So, I don't have anyone to proofread my stuff, and English isn't my first language, so I can't guarantee that my writing will be flawless (I'm 99% sure that it won't be, and I apologize in advance).  
> Well, anyway, excuse my rambling. Enjoy the story! ;)

"Okay, so this was a trap, but at least we got to eat something other than food goo!" Lance flashed a smile, ignoring the groaning of the other paladins. He was currently sprinting through a hallway alongside Pidge, trying to dodge the lasers of the Galra soldiers following them. 

"Can you just, like, shut up?" He could hear Keith's voice, but that didn't mean he actually listened to what his teammate had said.

"Alright, calm down! Split up and get to your lions, everybody!" Shiro chimed in.

That was easier said than done. They had landed on this planet with the intention to convince the inhabitants to join the Voltron coalition. But as it turned out, they weren't that interested. After a fancy dinner and a diplomatic meeting, each of the paladins got a guard to show them around. Only, as it turned out, there was no actual sightseeing or similar involved. It was rather a "running for your life" kind of activity. 

At least Coran was still in the castle of lions, and he already managed to rescue Allura from this mess. Now they were hovering above the hangar, where all of the lions were, waiting for the paladins to get there.

Lance glanced at their pursuers with a frown, then bumped into Pidge a few seconds later as she stopped running and stared at the two identical doors at the end of the hallway. He summoned his bayard and shot down a few of the Galra, covering Pidge, who was now frantically typing at her small holographic device. 

"Which one leads to the hangar?" Lance asked, attempting to hide his worry with a cocky smile. Pidge was trying to get a map of the building and pinpoint their exact location, but she didn't seem to have any success yet.

"Honestly, I have no clue." She sighed defeated. "The system is blocking all my attempts at hacking it."

"Well, we don't have much time left!" Lance pointed out, flailing his arms in the direction of the approaching soldiers. "If we don't have any other plan, our best option is to split up and try both directions. We'll let each other know if we found the way to the hangar."

Pidge reluctantly agreed. "Fine." She nodded and opened the door on the right side. "Good luck." 

Lance watched as she ran off, then realized he should probably do the same as a laser almost hit him. He stepped through the other door and looked around cautiously.

The hallway was dimly lit, which was already cliche enough in Lance's opinion, and the fact that there was a single door at the end of this hallway didn't help. He approached that door slowly, gently pushing it when it didn't open automatically. It still didn't open after that attempt and Lance started to doubt that this way led to the hangar. 

"Hey, just checking in, Hunk and I are already in our lions, where are you guys?" Shiro asked, worry laced in his voice.

"Everything fine here, I just got held up by a few guards," Keith replied, and Lance let out a small sigh of relief. At least one of them was on their way to their lion.

Pidge joined the conversation: "I'm alright too, I've got a map of the building. I don't know where you are though, Lance, the other door isn't marked on the map. You should try the door I went through." 

"Oh," Lance said surprised, turning around and heading back to the door.  
It didn't open.

"Guys... I think I'm stuck. The door isn't working, and I see no other ways to get out."

"Stay where you are, I'll try to find you," Pidge mumbled slightly irritated.  
Lance could hear strange voices coming from the other side of the door and a small smile appeared on his face. 

He was about to say "That was quick, thanks Pidge.", when the door flew open and two guards entered, pointing their weapons at Lance.

Before Lance could think, he started backing away from them, only stopping when he felt his back pressed against the only other door in that hallway. 

It was as if time got slowed down, and Lance's thoughts started running wild. 

This wasn't really happening, right? Why was he always the one that got in trouble, the one that messed up, the one that never really contributed to the team's success? What talent could he offer anyway? Everyone had a role, everyone but Lance. Shiro was an amazing leader, quiznak, he was practically flawless, then there was Keith, with his amazing fighting talent, Hunk with his cooking and mechanical skills, Pidge with her knowledge of math and technology, and Lance... Lance, who was just a Garrison cadet that barely made it to fighter class. He wasn't even someone important like Princess Allura. Maybe he did deserve this. It was probably better this way, if he got killed or captured now, then the team could find someone better.

Lance took a deep breath and accepted his fate, closing his eyes as the guards walked up to him.

The only thing the other paladins heard was a loud scream before a huge explosion shook the building.

"What happened? Pidge, Lance, are you alright?" Allura asked, but no one answered, and the paladins were beginning to fear the worst. 

"Lance? Pidge?" Keith was the first to speak up, although quietly. He had already reached his lion a few minutes ago, but now he felt the urge to rush back into the building and look for the blue and the green paladin.

There was a long pause, much longer than he felt was necessary.

"I'm alright, just a few scratches and stuff. But Lance... Well, I found him, at least, but he doesn't look so good. He must've been right in the middle of the explosion. There are a few guards around him, they died in the explosion though."

"And... Is Lance dead too?" Hunk blurted out.

"No, I... I can feel his pulse. We should definitely get him into a healing pod as soon as possible. He doesn't look so good."

"Okay. We're going down and getting you. Keith, distract the guards." Shiro commanded determined and navigated the black lion to where he assumed Pidge was.

 

After two hours and a lot of hard work later, the paladins were all sitting around the healing pod Lance was in. They weren't directly doing anything, just hanging out and enjoying not doing anything for a while. 

Hunk brought them food goo from the kitchen after a while, and they decided that they would spend the evening playing games and waiting for Lance to wake up. 

Shiro was the first one to remind the others that they should definitely get some sleep and insisted that he should leave last, just to make sure that everyone would actually be going to their bedrooms instead of wandering through the castle. 

"Have you noticed it too?" Keith asked quietly, standing up from the sofa and walking over to Shiro once they were the only ones left. He, of course, knew that the other paladin just made up an excuse to be able to stay here longer. 

"Yeah, and it's troubling me." Shiro sighed.

"Well, why didn't you make a remark about it to the others? I'm sure Allura could help."

"I don't want to worry them even more. Lance should've woken up by now. And on top of all that, the white hair..." He motioned to a white streak in Lance's hair. It resembled Shiro's in some ways, but it had the texture of Allura's from the looks of it. 

"Maybe you're just overcomplicating it. Just get some rest, you need it, Shiro." Keith frowned, placing a hand on Shiro's shoulder. 

Shiro gave the red paladin a smile. "You're right. Good night, Keith." 

"G'night," Keith replied, returning the smile as Shiro left the room.  
He took one last glance at Lance, before laying down on the sofa and getting into a comfortable position to sleep.

 

Lance tumbled out of the healing pod and managed to trip, falling face-first onto the ground. "Great. So prince-like." He groaned, pushing himself up with his hands and looking around. Should he wake up Keith and tell him he was fully healed? Then again, he was still in that weird suit he always wore when he was in the healing pod, perhaps he should get dressed before talking to anyone.

 

His room was somehow messier than usual, but that was nothing compared to his closet. It was filled with clothes that he must've gotten on other planets, but most of them resembled the clothes of the other paladins; they looked like clothes from earth. And not that Lance had any problem with earth clothes, but he definitely would much rather wear his good old prince outfit. 

Maybe Coran had decided to clean them while he was in the healing pod? That was the most logical answer he could think of. 

It was probably still early in the morning, since Keith hadn't been awake yet when he crawled out of the healing pod. And that meant that it was time for breakfast. Lance would be able to ask Coran then. He quickly put on some clothes he found in his closet, then went to the kitchen.

 

"Good morning everyone," Lance greeted as he stepped into the kitchen.  
"Oh, morning Lance, how are-" Shiro stopped talking once he actually looked over at him. Pidge and Hunk followed his gaze and gasped, staring at Lance wide-eyed.

"What's wrong?" Lance raised an eyebrow. 

"Your hair."

"What's wrong with it?" He asked, running a hand through it confused.  
"It's completely white," Hunk muttered in awe, stepping closer to him to get a better look.

"Well, what else is it supposed to be? Pink?" Lance rolled his eyes.

"Did you hit your head during the explosion? Lance, your hair is usually brown!" Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose, while Hunk glanced at her with a frown.

Shiro stepped in before this could escalate into a fight. "Lance, are those Altean marks on your face?" He asked, his voice showing just how confused and surprised he truly was. 

"Duh? I'm the prince of Altea, it would be pretty weird if I didn't have any..."  
"What are you talking about?" Hunk walked up to Lance and cupped his face with his hands, examining the marks and Lance's eyes, which definitely had purple pupils now. 

Lance took a few steps back, looking around at everyone in this room with a frown. "Wha- Why are you guys acting so weird all of a sudden? Allura has white hair too, we were just born with it." 

"We should talk to Coran and Allura about it, maybe they can help?" Hunk suggested, earning a disapproving look from Lance.

"Yeah, we'll do that. Lance, come on." Shiro gently grabbed Lance's arm.

"Why don't you believe me? This is ridiculous, why do you need reassurance from my sister?" Lance snapped and yanked his arm away from Shiro. 

"Lance, I'm truly sorry, it's just that we know you as someone from earth. We don't know what happened to you, but you definitely changed, and we just want to find out how to help you, alright?" 

Lance sighed and after a few seconds of contemplating, he shrugged. "Fine."

 

Before they could even leave the kitchen, a slightly panicked Keith showed up in the doorway. "Have you seen Lance? ...Oh." He stared at the boy, then at the boy's white hair with wide eyes. It took him a few seconds to understand what exactly was going on. "What kind of mess did you get into this time?"


	2. A good day to question your existence in this and all other realities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the crew attempt to figure out what's wrong with Lance, Keith gets an existential crisis, and goes to sleep wondering if sitting in the kitchen at 2 am and staring at the other person counts as a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I managed to write another chapter today, but don't get your hopes up, folks, I'm still just a hyperactive blob with not enough time on my hands (seriously, exams are coming up for me and I have too many hobbies), so my chapters will most likely be posted once a week. With that said, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

It wouldn’t have been an understatement to say that Allura didn’t understand the paladins and their shenanigans anymore. She tried, she really did. 

Yet she still couldn't comprehend how she ended up with the paladins of Voltron (with some of them still in their pajamas) bursting into the control room, lead by Lance, demanding from Allura to explain what was going on.   
There was only one small problem with that: She had no idea.

Coran joined her side, twirling his mustache. "Alright paladins, calm down! Also, could anyone explain why Lance's hair is white?" 

Shiro stepped forward. "We don't know, apparently he exited the healing pod looki-" He got interrupted by Lance walking up to Allura. Besides the white hair, he definitely looked different in other ways too. Allura glanced at Coran to see if he had noticed the light blue Altean marks under Lance’s eyes, just like she had. Her advisor certainly looked confused, but also fascinated, resembling a little child who just saw a magic trick and was trying to figure out how it worked.

"Yeah, okay, I get it, funny joke, guys. I'm totally not the Prince of Altea, and my hair is not supposed to be white. Can I get my clothes and my circlet back now?" Lance held out a hand, to no one in particular, with a small, amused smile on his lips.

It became unusually quiet in the room. Perhaps this was the moment when everyone (or at least Keith) realized that Lance wasn't joking. He seriously believed himself to be an Altean Prince and Allura's brother. 

A horrible idea crossed Keith's mind; maybe this wasn't even Lance, but a malfunctioning trap that the inhabitants of that planet used to try to get information about them? The idea seemed absurd, yet rational in some sort of way. 

But Keith couldn’t just ignore that possibility, could he? He didn’t even have time to think about it, it just happened, his legs started to move and his hand subconsciously grabbed his knife. Before he even knew what he was doing, he was standing behind Lance, the blade pressed against the supposed blue paladin’s neck.

“Keith!” Shiro exclaimed, furrowing his eyebrows and grabbing Keith’s other arm in an attempt to pull him back from their teammate.

“Where’s the real Lance?” Keith hissed. “For all we know, you could just be a really pathetic spy. Everyone knows Lance is from earth.”

“Whoa-whoa-whoa, hold up! I am the real Lance! And what are you even talking about, I’ve never even been to earth!” Lance stammered, with a considerable amount of fear, which is to be expected from someone who has a knife pressed against their neck. He turned to Allura, with a desperate expression practically pleading for help. “Allura, please tell me this is a joke! You can’t seriously be thinking that too, right? I’m your little brother, we grew up together!”

Then the voice of reason, aka Pidge, appeared and shook her head, giving Keith the most disapproving look he had ever seen. “Keith, you’re obviously overreacting, let Lance go. For all we know, he could’ve gotten some brain damage from the explosion. Let’s not terrify the delusional one, okay?”

“I’m not delusional!” Lance crossed his arms over his chest as Keith let him go. “Coran and Allura can prove that, right?”

“Well, Lance...” Allura started, looking at the ground embarrassed. “I’m pretty sure I would remember if I had a brother...”

“Not necessarily, Princess.” Coran managed to get everybody’s attention with that, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to elaborate.

Luckily, Pidge still understood. “So… What you’re trying to say is that this Lance could be from another reality?” 

“Probably,” was all that Coran gave as an answer. He seemed to find this whole thing quite amusing, not even trying to hide his smile.

A few seconds of silence followed, seconds of shock and confusion.  
“What? But then where’s the other- where’s our Lance?” Hunk asked finally, eyeing this Lance suspiciously.

Pidge shrugged. “We don’t know for sure, but I don’t even know how exactly this happened. You can’t just travel between realities like that. It will take us at least weeks to find a solution if he really is from another reality.”

“But what do we do with him then?” Keith raised his eyebrows, motioning towards Lance, who had kind of distanced himself from the group, running his hand through his hair over and over again, sometimes pulling out some of it and viewing it as if to check if it was still white. The boy looked up once everyone was staring at him, and Keith could see just how much his mood has changed in the last few minutes. He looked confused, almost scared, biting his lip and subconsciously touching the spot on his neck where Keith had put his knife before. 

“We should treat him as if everything were fine. He is still Lance, after all, and he deserves respect as a paladin of Voltron and the prince of Altea.” Allura gave Lance a warm smile. 

“Allura is right. Excuse me for doubting your royal title earlier this morning. With that said, and as the leader of Voltron, I welcome you to the team, Prince Lance.” Shiro offered his hand for a handshake. Lance, although hesitantly, accepted. 

“Thank you, Shiro. Would you excuse me if I went to my room now, though? I’m still quite tired...” Lance gave them a weak smile, then sighed and left. 

“Poor Lance, it must be so confusing for him...” Hunk frowned.

“Keep in mind that we’re still not sure whether or not he actually is from a different reality,” Pidge reminded him. 

“But that would explain the Altean marks though… Isn’t it great to not be the only surviving Alteans, Allura?” Coran was practically glowing with happiness. Keith wondered how close this Lance and the Coran from his reality actually were.

“Yeah, of course. It feels weird to have a brother all of a sudden, especially considering it’s Lance…” The princess folded her hands. She was obviously worried, but Keith couldn’t tell what she was worried about. There could’ve been a million reasons, ranging from “is this Lance a threat?”, through “where is our Lance right now?” to “if we fail to get back this Lance into his reality but manage to get back ours, will we have to deal with the annoying jokes times two?”.

“Maybe you should check on him tomorrow, Allura… If he really is an Altean prince in another reality, then that makes you his sister. He’s probably a little hurt that you didn’t recognize him, or he’s just confused in general. No matter what, someone should cheer him up, and you’re the best person for the job,” Hunk suggested, placing his hand on Allura’s shoulder. 

She nodded slightly, then turned to the exit. “Regardless of this incident, you should still be fit for battle. Lance will be excused from today’s training, but the rest of you not.”

 

Keith gave up on getting some sleep. It was already past midnight, but the closest he came to dreaming was shutting his eyes and imagining Lance standing before him. Everything that happened today made his thoughts into a mess. Him trying to think straight at that moment was like throwing ten different puzzles together, then trying to put the puzzle pieces together into only one picture. 

He felt sorry for Lance. Not sure which Lance. Probably both. He didn’t want to think about how he would react if he was thrown into a different reality, Probably way worse than Lance had reacted. There is a weird comfort in not knowing too much. He was the wrong person to think that, he used to be a Garrison cadet after all, where the main focus was to explore what they haven’t yet and learn what they didn’t know. It was full of people who strove for more knowledge, who wanted to know more, wanted to know about everything that was out there. 

But, as Keith now realized, there was a certain point no one should pass. At one point, the world becomes too confusing, and it would only lead to an existential crisis if one were to think about it for too long.

Since Keith was kind of starting to have an existential crisis right now, he concluded that he should take a walk to clear his head. He didn’t even get past the sleeping quarters when he noticed light coming from the kitchen.   
When he went to investigate, he wasn’t expecting to find Lance sitting on the counter, with a bowl of food goo beside him, sewing something that had a similar color scheme to Allura’s dress. Well, he didn’t even know Lance could sew.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Keith asked, which caused Lance to almost jump off the counter in surprise. He walked over to Lance and threw a glance at him before examining the fabric the blue paladin had in his hand.  
“Well...” Lance gave him a half shrug and a bitter smile. “I was planning to, but I just… couldn’t and I figured I might as well do something productive then.”

“Where did you even get this stuff from?”

“Oh, I found some in the room where I used to store the clothes that were too small for me… In my reality, I mean,” Lance added quickly after he saw Keith’s confused expression. “Apparently the room has the same purpose in this reality.”

Keith could see just how hard it was for Lance to add “in my reality” or “in this reality” at the end of every sentence, and he was tempted to bring it up but figured it would only make him uncomfortable. 

“Where did you learn to sew?” Was all that Keith could come up with right now, but it didn’t bother Lance at all. 

“My mother taught me when I was younger… The castle was pure chaos during the war, and since I couldn’t help much or occupy the training deck while it was needed to train the actual soldiers, I figured I needed a more peaceful hobby; that way I wasn’t distracting my father or sister. Then as I got older I was too busy fighting and I couldn’t really sew anything, but as it turns out, the clothes I sew still look somewhat acceptable...” Lance smiled and held up a finished outfit, one with puffy white sleeves and a blue, gold and white vest. It looked so expensive and luxurious, not something that a teen would sew together at 1 am. 

“Woah...” Keith muttered. “It looks amazing.”

“Thanks,” Lance flashed a smile, then turned back to his work.

“Oh, and sorry about what happened earlier in the control room today...”

Lance didn't reply, and it became quite awkward after that. The two sat in silence, Keith watching Lance work and giving him a questioning look every time he ate some of the food goo and commented on how delicious it was.

 

“You know, I really miss Altea… And my sister- my family in general.” Lance said quietly after an hour or so. 

Keith looked up surprised, since that was a kind of weird thing to just mention randomly, especially around 2 am, but he had to cut Lance some slack, he was the one that just got thrown into a whole different reality. Maybe this was just Lance’s way of opening up.

“Has Altea been destroyed in your reality too? Are your parents still alive?” Keith realized how he shouldn’t have asked that so direct, but it was too late.

Lance shook his head but continued sewing. “Everything destroyed, everybody dead. Coran, Allura and I are the only survivors.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not like it can be changed. I guess I’m just the unluckiest prince across all realities.” 

“Hm? What do you mean?” Keith frowned, but now that he thought about it, Lance was pretty unlucky.

“First, the war. Then, this whole thing.” Lance gestured to himself and then spread his arms, motioning to everything around them. “First my friends won’t believe that it’s me, then it turns out that they’re not my actual friends, just other versions of them from a different reality.” Keith was about to insist that they were still his friends, but Lance didn’t give him a chance to speak. “And now I’m starting to question myself. You know, Keith… I feel so wrong here, but at the same time, you all don’t seem to have changed at all. Everyone is still treating me the same way they did before, as the obnoxious idiot I am. It’s nice to see that at least some things haven’t changed… Still, I can’t accept that I have traveled through realities. That doesn’t just happen. One explosion doesn’t cause such a thing. But oh well… Sometimes, it really is better to just wait and see what happens,” Lance sighed, then tried to lighten the mood: “Who knows, maybe some weird space deity decided you deserved a royal version of this annoyance called Lance, and sent me, only giving your Lance back once you get fed up and abandon me on a lonely planet.” He then stood up and grabbed the finished clothes. “Well, I should get some sleep, maybe I’ll feel more right when I wake up. Goodnight, Mullet.”

Keith groaned and Lance smiled at his reaction, which made Keith smile a little too.

“Goodnight, Prince Lance.”

 

Once Keith returned to his bed and closed his eyes, he wasn’t completely sure if the conversation between him and Lance actually happened, or if it was just a weird hallucination caused by his lack of sleep. But at least it helped his existential crisis, and that’s all that matters, right? He already had enough things on his mind, he didn’t mind if his worries were for once replaced by memories of spending time with a Lance that wasn’t that annoyingly competitive for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make this chapter longer than the first one, and I'll try to make the other ones even longer. Please please please give me feedback, I am in desperate need of it. I really want to improve my writing. Also, I still take suggestions for tags I should add.  
> Thanks for reading, until next time! ;)


	3. "Can you get homesick for a person?" and other questions Lance wonders about in the night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance just can't fall asleep with so much on his mind, and trying to only ends up with him slightly confused and missing his sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Sorry that this took me a whole week to write, I had a serious case of writer's block and I was really busy too.  
> I feel like this chapter didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, but I can promise that the next chapter will be better. Anyways, enjoy this chapter! ;)

The one thing that Lance hated about the Castle of Lions was that it brought back memories.

What he hated even more, though, was that they weren't always good memories. They were almost never good memories.

And the bad ones always hit him hard, when he wasn’t expecting them. Especially at night, when he couldn’t sleep. 

It started out alright. But, then again, everything starts out alright at first.

 

After the conversation with Keith, all the thoughts about this and his reality were keeping him awake. So he just ended up laying in bed, staring at the ceiling. 

He tried to think of something, anything, that would get him to sleep. Ever since the war, he had trouble falling asleep, but until now, he always managed to overcome that problem somehow...

 

A memory of a kind and familiar voice surfaced in his mind. He couldn’t exactly remember who the voice belonged to, but it was a woman’s voice. She was singing a song, something slow and soothing, like a lullaby. 

The lyrics were unintelligible, incoherent at first, blurry as if Lance had forgotten them. But as he tried desperately to remember at least one line in the song, the memory got clearer and clearer, and he not only knew the lyrics now, but he could also recall where he heard it. 

His mother used to sing it to him. 

He could remember a room; it was dark, the only light being that of the moon and the stars that shone through the window. The walls were covered in posters of spaceships, planets, celebrities, cute animals; whatever a child usually had pictures of in their room.  
There were five beds in the room, but they were all empty – all five children were laying on the carpet beside the beds, surrounding a woman with dark curls. She was singing the lullaby Lance had been thinking of, looking at each of her children with such a loving gaze that even the oldest, who must’ve been around twelve or thirteen, couldn’t help but smile. Lance, the youngest of the five, had laid his head on her lap and was already half asleep. 

The song filled him with warmth and reminded him of the times he and his family would take walks on the beach at night; his older sister showing him star constellations and his dad telling him stories about his family.

Wait.

What was he thinking about? Was this some dream he once had? Of course, there have been times before when he had fantasized about being from another planet… Maybe this was just a dream put together from stories Hunk had told him about earth? Lance did remember him talking about huge seas and fun activities of their home planet, after all. But why did it feel so familiar, so real? 

It was his real mother who had always sung this to him, not some made-up woman from another galaxy. How did Lance even come up with this oddly specific stuff?

Lance sighed and sat up in bed, leaning his back against the wall and staring at the palms of his hands. 

Could he even remember what his mother was really like? Lance would’ve hated himself if he had replaced her memory with one of a made-up mother from a made-up family. 

He closed his eyes again and concentrated on the lullaby. Tried to remember the feeling of his mother holding him close to her, stroking his head gently and singing to him and Allura in her beautiful voice.

She used to tell him that he could become one of Altea’s mightiest warriors if he wanted to. Or an alchemist, as she once said, when Lance had told her excitedly that he wanted to be just like his father when he grew up. His mother believed in him, she knew he could become a general, a feared tactician, a sharpshooter well-known all across the galaxy and the universe, or even a great king if it would come to that. Allura would encourage him too, explaining to him and their mother how one day she and Lance would help end all wars on all the planets, and how the two of them would become leaders that aided and supported Altea to become an even more advanced planet.

Of course, all hell broke loose when the war started, and their hopes and dreams became nothing more than bittersweet fantasies for Lance. 

The first attack on Altea was when he was about nine years old. He was playing with his sister when a sudden explosion shook the castle. Everyone was rushing somewhere, and Allura tried to get him to safety as well, but Lance had been frozen in fear, unable to move. He was panicking, clinging to bypassing guards and begging them to find his mother, yet refusing to be taken anywhere. He could hear the explosions outside the castle and he knew very well that Alteans were dying, he understood that he was in danger too; but with the stubbornness of a child, he wandered off all alone to find his parents, completely ignoring Allura. 

He still hasn’t forgotten the sight of his mother’s lifeless body in front of him. The injuries he suffered that day were a gentle punishment for wandering off compared to that image that had been burned into his memory. 

After their mother’s death, Allura would sing the lullaby to him every night before they went to sleep. It helped Lance a lot when he was younger, it filled him with hope and inspired him to train harder, to help his father and to help avoid even more Alteans losing their loved ones because of this war. 

He would never admit it to the Allura in this reality, but he really missed her singing that song to him. The last time she had done it in his reality was when they got out of the cryopods and Lance realized he had lost his father too. Still, Lance felt the same sense of hopelessness right now.

His eyelids were starting to feel heavy, and Lance made the final decision that he would talk to his sister tomorrow, regardless the fact that she’s been obviously trying to avoid him. Now, that he had made up his mind, he tried to go to sleep again, this time softly humming the lullaby to himself. Bit by bit, the voices in his head got quiet and he could concentrate on the one thing he wanted right now: sleep.

 

“Good morning, Prince Lance. Would you mind getting up and eating with us? The others are all awake,” Coran announced after gently shaking Lance’s shoulder. It took him a few more tries before the prince finally sat up and yawned.

“Oh, hey Coran… I’ll be there in a few minutes...” Lance mumbled, making a barely recognizable dismissive motion with his hand, simply telling Coran that he would do perfectly fine on his own and that he shall leave him alone.

He didn’t feel like getting out of bed just yet, which was quite reasonable, considering he must’ve gotten about four hours of sleep that night. But as a prince and as a paladin, he couldn’t let the crew down. 

After successfully falling out of bed, he made his way to the closet and grabbed the first outfit he deemed fit for a royal. He took one last glance in the mirror. It was visible that he hadn’t gotten enough sleep, but he was still good-looking as always, so he had nothing to worry about.

“’Morning, everyone,” Lance greeted the others as he entered the lounge with a bowl of food goo in his hand. The paladins were all scattered around the couches, eating and discussing their most recent problem. At Lance’s arrival, everyone got quiet and looked at him, unable to say anything for a few ticks. 

“Yeah, good morning...” Hunk replied at last, taking in the sight of Lance dressed in Altean clothes. The outfit could only be described as stylish and elegant, aside from the shoes – Lance was wearing the shoes of this reality’s Lance, which didn’t fit that well with the slightly baggy pants he made the night before.

Allura stole a glance at Coran, who, unlike her, looked certainly pleased, to the point where it wouldn’t have been exaggerated to say that he was close to crying tears of joy. 

The princess, on the other hand, wasn’t sure how to feel – Lance reminded her of a certain someone, and the thought brought a weird feeling of melancholy to her. 

“You look terrible, Lance. Did you even get any sleep last night?” Pidge raised her eyebrows, giving Lance a judgemental look.

“Thanks, Pidge, you look amazing as always, too. And yes, I did get some sleep, not much though.” Lance rolled her eyes before taking a seat between her and Shiro. He shared a knowing look with Keith and gave him a little smile, but that was all. “So, what are we gonna do today?” 

“Well, we should definitely get back to training more, even if we’re in this… situation right now.” Shiro leaned forward. “We can’t slack off, the universe still needs us.” 

“About that,” Keith started, “what about the blue lion? Will it still accept Lance as its paladin?” 

“Right, we’ll still have to figure that out. Alright, everyone gets half a varga of free time, then we’ll do some bonding with our lions before heading to the training deck to see if there have been any major changes to Lance’s fighting style. Okay?”

“Sounds good, see you then.” Lance stood up and left the room, promptly followed by his sister. 

 

Lance turned to Allura once they reached the holodeck, frowning slightly. He didn’t know what to expect. Knowing they would have this talk sooner or later, he decided it was best to get it over with now, before any other complications happened, but personally, he wasn’t sure if he was ready for it.

“You look just like Father in that outfit… And you have his eyes, as well,” Allura said softly, a small smile displayed on her lips as she walked up to Lance and ruffled his hair. 

That made Lance chuckle, although he wasn’t sure why. “I know, I know. You wouldn’t believe how many people have told me that before. It was the only thing I would hear during meetings or balls… It’s starting to get on my nerves, you know.”

“Oh, sorry,” Allura’s smile became even bigger, since she too knew how that felt. She was almost a clone of her mother appearance-wise, and diplomats who would come visit Altea would make the same comments about her. 

Lance waved his hand dismissively. “Well, at least you would always get me out of such situations by inviting me to dance… It was always so much fun,” he said with a sad smile, averting his gaze from his sister. 

“Oh… Do… Do you miss your Allura a lot?” Allura asked, sitting down and leaning against the wall, hugging her knees. 

“Well, of course,” Lance admitted with a half shrug, unsure how he should address this issue with Allura without accidentally hurting her feelings. “I mean, the crew is still amazingly welcoming and friendly in this reality too, but the Allura from my reality and I… we had this kind of special relationship that only people who’ve gone through so much together can have. And now that I’m here… I still have you, and you are Allura, but you’re still so… different. If you know what I mean.”

She nodded, unable to form any words. It was if she had something stuck in her throat that stopped every single one from coming out. 

“I have all these memories of you and me, but you didn’t even remember that I am your brother, which is logical, I suppose, but still.” Lance continued, sighing softly, his shoulders slumped. 

“I’m sorry about that… What’s the Allura from your reality like?” 

Lance looked up at Allura curiously, eyes wide with surprise. Did Allura want to become more like his Allura just for his sake? “Uhm, well, she’s… I mean she is just like you in most ways, it’s just our relationship that’s different. We can talk about anything, and we usually hang out a lot. Sometimes, when I’m having a really bad day, we reminisce about Altea or play Altean games. Lately, the others have been joining our game nights too.”

Allura smiled excitedly. “Why don’t we have an Altean game night too, then? I’m sure the others would enjoy it, especially Coran.” 

“I mean, you don’t have to do all this, Allura. I don’t expect you to pretend that I have been your brother all your life, just to make me feel better. I’ll get through this, and I will eventually return to my reality, and you’ll get back your Lance.”

“Lance, no. Even if you’re only here for a short while, I want to be a sister just as good as your Allura is. Understood?” She stood up and faced Lance, who, although hesitantly and frowning, nodded. 

“Okay.”

That ‘okay’ was all that Allura needed to hear before wrapping her arms around Lance and hugging him tightly. Lance was a little surprised at first, since he was usually the one that initiated the hugs, but it definitely felt good.

“Geez, all I did was agree to a game night, is that such a big deal?” He murmured, trying to hold back a chuckle. “Please tell me that the Lance from this reality isn’t this cheesy...”

Allura laughed and released him from the hug. “You should probably visit your lion now. We’ll continue this conversation after that.”

“Quiznak, you’re right, I should go now. Let’s see how the blue lion likes my little makeover.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this whole chapter was a huge disappointment for me... I hope you liked it tho :p  
> Feedback is still appreciated (like seriously, every single comment I get makes my day). Thanks for reading. :)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm tired and it's 1 am and this turned out so much worse than I expected it to be... But anyway:  
> Thank you so much for reading this chapter till the end! Please, if you have any suggestions on how I could improve my writing, leave a comment! I'd really appreciate some feedback, whether positive or negative, I'm thankful for both.   
> Also, if you have any idea on other tags I could add, please help me out!  
> I'll try to post a chapter at least once a week, but I can't make any promises. :p I'm pretty busy (and a bit lazy too), so I'm not sure if I could manage to actually do that.


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